School children are passing on a career in computing because IT lessons at school are boring, says the Royal Society.

Research by the UK's national academy of science revealed the number of IT GCSEs being taken has fallen by a third in the past three years. The number of teens studying for A-Level ICT has also fallen by a third since 2003.

As a result, the Royal Society is conducting a year-long study into how the curriculum and exams can be improved to encourage more students to take the subjects. More than 20 computing organisations, including Google and the Royal Academy of Engineering, are backing the study.

"We are now watching the enthusiasm of the next generation waste away through poorly conceived courses and syllabuses," Professor Steve Furber, who is chairing the 'Computing in schools and its importance and implications for the economic and scientific well-being of the UK' study, told the BBC.

"If we cannot address the problem of how to educate our young people in inspirational and appropriate ways, we risk a future workforce that is totally unskilled and unsuited to tomorrow's job market."

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